Steve Whitmire on Kermit The Frog ‘I’ve now lost my whole career over this.’

As heard on The Ryan Tubridy Show July 25, 2017

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Steve Whitmire, who portrayed Kermit The Frog for 27 years before the role was controversially recast, joined Dave Fanning on The Ryan Tubridy Show this morning to talk about his dismissal from The Muppets, fan reaction and his relationship with the family of The Muppets creator Jim Henson.

Mr Whitmire took on the role of Kermit following the death of Jim Henson in 1990. Looking back on that time, he describes his reaction to learning he would play Kermit:

“It was an honour, it was also incredibly intimidating…he had designated me to do it”.

Mr Whitmire worries that as The Muppets roles are gradually taken over by those who did not work with Henson, core elements of the characters will be lost. Comparing this process to copying a VHS tape, he said:

“You can shoot an original and the more you copy it, the more it degrades”.

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